


Chronicles of the Pax Bisonica

by tftouya



Series: Chronicles of the Pax Bisonica [1]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-01-31 13:08:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21446710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tftouya/pseuds/tftouya
Summary: (This chapter was written by Frost's player, Lauren)
Series: Chronicles of the Pax Bisonica [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1546144
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. The Greats

Tink, tink, shlunk. 

Tink, tink, shlunk. 

The idle noises drifted through the air of the small room as the Exo Hunter hunched over the metal box in front of him. His nimble fingers danced over dials and screws, muttering under his breath several times in a row. 

“Damn,” he exhaled. 

The mass of muscle layered under chrome armor chuckled in the corner, swigging from a flagon of beer and swinging her feet up onto the nearby desk with a ponderous thud as she reclined in her seat. “You’ll never get it open.” 

“You think I would,” the Exo huffed. “I mean it is technically mine after all, and I’d really like to know what was so important that I felt the need to keep it from me.” 

From around the corner to the hallway, another Exo peeked, a Warlock. She scrunched up her faceplates. “I thought I heard your feet on the desk again, Ronnie. Off. Off. You’ll ruin the last bit of good furniture we have.” 

The Awoken Titan made a jabbering puppet gesture with her fingers and stuck her tounge out at the Warlock. “My clan house, my rules.” 

Thirt13en sat up and his hands left the lockbox for a moment. “Yeah, speaking of that,” the Hunter gestured to the singed clan banner hung behind the Titan. “Why the bull-head?” 

The Titan looked up and remarked “goes with the name.” 

“Yeah, that’s another thing” Thirt13en said, sitting back, trying to distract himself from the box. “Why that name?” 

“Pax Bisonica?” Ronnie said, scooting her beer across the table as Erina-7 tried to jam a coaster under it, fruitlessly. “S’based on a thing from some clips I salvaged from a Warmind.” 

The hunter perked an eyebrow “you salvaged data from a Warmind?” 

“Don’t be so impressed,” Erina said, settling for at least wiping the desk with a cloth. “She’s only gotten little snippets. Mostly recorded plays, but with elaborate sets and pyrotechnics.” 

“Movies” the Titan sneered “they were called movies. There was a whole industry set up around them. Probably the height of culture and art.” 

Erina made a face “the only culture you have is the bacteria keeping your beer from going flat.” 

“Wait, wait, wait,” Thirt13en held up his hands “so still...what does any of that have to do with the name.” 

Ronnie swung her greaves down with an audible thud that made Erina jump a little. She stood to her full height and raised her armored hands above her head “it’s based on a speech by one of the finest thespians of his time. A tale of power and loyalty the likes of which haven’t been seen on this world in a thousand years.” 

Erina sneered “It’s good, but it’s not that good, you may be overselling it. In fact, it’s even, daresay, a little overacte-” 

“Hey!” the Titan barked. She picked up her flagon and raised it to her lips, keeping a steely gaze on the Warlock.

“In this house, we do not besmirch the name of the great Raul Julia.”


	2. Accuracy

SHUNK

“How’re you holding up there, Ronnie?” 

SHUNK 

The haft of the arrow slid cleanly into the skull of the hulking Cabal Legionary, cutting off all his motor function, the life leaving his eyes just around the same moment as Th13teen knocked another arrow and pivoted at his waist to find another target, just about the same moment as the muscular Titan near him dropped another arrow to the floor.

“DAMMIT” she shouted. “How the hell do you use these damn things all the time?” 

Th13teen shrugged and let the arrow fly.

SHUNK. Another dead Cabal, as gunfire roared around them both.

“Talent,” the Exo hunter smirked. 

Ronnie growled in response “Grimm, status report,” she barked into her comms as she scrambled to ham fistedly knock an arrow into her bow finally.

“BUSY” the Exo Titan growled from across the battlefield. He was busy pumping rounds from his massive chaingun into the waves of Cabal encroaching on them, yet keeping the crowd away from the other two as best he could. “HURRY,” he snarled, blood spattering his gold chestpeice. 

Ronnie huffed “the big guy says we should hurry up.” 

“Oh come on,” Th13teen laughed. SHUNK. “You wanted to prove you were at least competent with a bow and I’ve got all night.” 

“I wanted to prove that these things aren’t as good as a good Auto Rifle,” Ronnie shouted, letting another arrow fly wide of a Cabal soldier. SHUNK. The same soldier felled by Th13teen’s arrow a split second later. 

“I dunno” the hunter said, knocking another faster than Ronnie could notice “sounds more like a *you* problem there.” 

Ronnie quivered with quick anger. “FINE” she screamed, throwing her Arsenic Bite bow to the floor. “But if I have to use a bow, I’m going to use my favorite one!” 

“Hey now, that’s not in the spirit of this excerci-”

“Stuff it,” the Titan drew herself up to her full height and made an elaborate flick of her wrist, summoning her Ghost which now twirled lazily in her hand. “White, give me Trinity Ghoul.” 

The mass of metal polygons and light in her hand twitched a couple of times and said, in a cool, measured voice “Processing payment….aaaaaand done. It’s in your inventory, Ronnie.” 

“Thanks,” the tall Awoken woman waved her Ghost away and reached behind her, a shape materializing in her hands. As she drew it in front of her, it manifested into an elegantly curved white shape. A bow, exquisitely carved and crackling with lightning and magic. Th13teen stood awestruck. He’d never seen this weapon before. How long had she had it? The fact that Ronnie owned *more than one* bow was striking enough, but this thing. This thing was special. 

Ronnie stared downfield, curling her lip into a sneer as she slowly raised her arm, rod-straight. Her back arched, cocking her chest forward and she shut one eye. As she pulled the arrow back, the lighting trembles, shocking the air around them both. Coils of crackling light drew into the bow, coalescing into the arrowhead, vibrating with power. With an exhale, Ronnie let the arrow fly, and it soar to the other end of the battlefield where it buried itself cleanly into the ground between several Cabal. 

Th13teen scarcely had time to open his mouth and react before the arrow exploded in brilliance. Arcing arms of lightning stretching out, striking down three of the soldiers and leaving several others scrambling for safety. Ronnie turned to him and smiled. 

Th13teen blinked at her. “I think I’m in love.” 

“Excuse me?” the mountain of a woman seemed visibly shaken.

“Not you,” Th13teen clarified “the bow.”


	3. Discord

“RONNIE.”

Frost kicked the door in and it swung on it’s one good hinge to slam open. The lithe Awoken Hunter slammed her foot down and strode confidently into the room. She walked right up to the one good desk in the middle of it and to the other large Awoken woman behind it before the Exo Warlock off to one side could respond.

“Frost.” Ronnie said, cooly, “to what do I owe the pleasure and door repair fee?” 

“Shut it, boss lady” Frost sneered, “I’ve just about had enough of you and I’m in no mood for jokes.” 

“You never are,” the Titan noted, leaning back in her chair and swinging her feet up onto the desk, which made Erina-7, the Warlock, shudder. She did so hate seeing their one good desk get scuffed. 

“You sent me into a strike with two fresh-off-the-Tower Guardians who didn’t know what they were doing and left me there with no backup.” 

“Come on, you were new once too. They have to learn the ropes sometimes. And what better way than with a good teache-”

“FIFTY TIMES, RONNIE. I DIED FIFTY TIMES.” Frost barked angrily at the larger woman. Nervously she plucked a knife from her leg holsters and fidgeted with it in her fingers. “One of them saw me die over a cliff edge, so do you know what he tried to do? He tried to ressurect me…” 

“As one doe-” 

“OVER THE CLIFF EDGE, RONNIE.” Frost shouted, gesturing to an invisible cliff off to her left “WHICH MEANS I FELL TO MY DEATH AGAIN, AND THEN DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE TRIED TO DO?” 

Ronnie tried to hold back a chuckle, but it seeped out the corners of her mouth. “He didn’t…” 

“HE RESSURECTED ME AGAIN. AND AGAIN.” 

Ronnie threw her head back and howled with laughter, spilling her drink over the desk, which elicited a deep groan from Erina. 

“It’s NOT FUNNY” Frost shouted, hurling the knife at the Titan, whereupon it stuck into the desk between her legs causing her to fall over backwards. With a loud tumble and crash, she righted herself and stood, coming face to forehead with Frost.

“I’ve had enough” Frost said. “I’m challenging you for leadership of the clan.” 

“What?” Ronnie snapped “you can’t be serious.” 

“I’m dead serious, lady. We’ll put it to a vote.” 

“You know the rules, Frost. The vote doesn’t even count unless you have at least one clan member in support of it.” 

No sooner had she finished her sentence than a shiny gold head peeked around the corner of the doorframe “I’m for it.” 

“Goddammit Thi13teen, stay out of this,” Ronnie sighed.

“That’s one! And that’s all I need, Ronnie. By this time tomorrow we put it to a vote and we’ll see just who leads this clan once and for all.” 

“Hey, hey, bring it down a notch” the taller woman exhaled, clearly knowing that she was on shaky footing at this point. “Look, we serve this clan by the brave example of one of the most courageous men to ever walk Pre-Fall Earth. I think it only right that we ask of his example how best to settle this matter.”

Frost perked an eyebrow, her mood settling a little. “What are you suggesting?” 

“I’m just saying, we should ask ourselves, in time of internal disagreement, our guiding principle should be this” she framed her fingers into quotes. “‘What would Raul Julia do?’” 

Frost thought about that for a moment. She had sat and watched the clips with Ronnie and the other members of the clan, it had always brought them closer together. These fleeting memories of a Pre-Fall Earth. Their nights when they had downtime and could all gather together to entertain themselves were still worth all of the headaches the big Titan often put her through, and she knew it. She smiled in spite of herself. As much as she was still angry, there was much to be said for the way things were. 

Finding her conversational footing, Frost looked down in thought and smiled. She looked up at Ronnie and smirked, narrowing her eyes “Why I imagine good ol’ Raul would either end up in a swordfight” she smiled “or entwined in a kiss.” 

Never before had Frost seen the blue skin of an Awoken turn red so fast. A hot rush rose to Ronnie’s cheeks and she stumbled back a step. “Uh...whuh...ah...um…” She turned to Erina-7 who mustered a shrug and a “ya got me” headshake. Ronnie turned to face Frost again and said, definitivley “ah….uhhh...mmm…” before making a random genuflection and stumbling out of the office with uneven, rumbling steps. 

She passed Th13teen in the hallway who strode in with a bucket of popcorn. “Aww. Over already? How’d you get her to stop talking?” 

Frost smiled sweetly and stole a couple of kernels. “Fear of intimacy.” 

“I’ve noticed she’s got that, yeah.” Th13teen said, turning back to Frost. “So you our new leader yet?” 

“No,” Frost chuckled, staring after the lumbering woman who was now leaving the building in a hurry, “I’ll let her stay leader a little longer, I guess.”


	4. Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This chapter was written by Frost's player, Lauren)

Quiet time was Frost’s favourite thing in the known universe. Even if that meant quiet time was merely her racing across the plains of Io, shooting Vex in the face with extreme prejudice. Really quiet time, just meant she could do what she wanted at a pace she wanted without getting interrupted. 

“Frost, Vex pillar ahead.” The “quiet” interrupted by the small ghost known as Persephone. 

“I see it.” She launched straight off the ground, landing on the pillar with all the cat like grace she had at her disposal. “Why here though?” 

“May I ask a question?” 

She sighed before answering. So much for the quiet. “Sure, what’s up little ghost?” 

“I’m confused about why you challenged Ronnie for the clan leadership when you’ve previously expressed that you would rather “eat your knives”. 

“It’s called driving a point home, Persey.” 

“I don’t follow.” 

“You see Ghost, sometimes you gotta talk to people in a language only they understand. For Ronnie, making sure she understood how badly she fucked up by sending me on that mission, was threatening her with losing her favourite thing about being a guardian.” 

“Punching people in the face?” 

“Her second favourite thing.” 

“Engaging in sexual acts with as many people as possible.” 

“You get my point.” Frost interrupted with an eye roll. “If she thinks she could lose her spot as clan leader, let’s just say, she’ll be a little more malleable to my point of view in the future. That means less fucking with my job.” She paused to send a knife hurtling towards a Vex, its head exploded, taking three more Vex with it. “Where in good grief are these platforms coming from?” 

Without warning the platforms disappeared underneath her feet. As the guardian hurtled towards her death, the strangest thing occurred. Her ears turned warm for just a moment. 

“Huh.” 

The next thing she knew, she was back on the cliffside she started on, looking grateful at the ghost. “Thank you, Persephone.” 

“You’re welcome guardian.” 

Frost stared out at the cliff. “I should go report this….to someone. Actually, I’m not sure who I should report this to.” She looked back at Persephone. “Did I answer your question?” 

“I think so. Are you saying sometimes, people don’t always understand what you mean, even when you put it in plain words?” 

“Bingo.” She stretched. “I’m hungry. Lets go home. I think the Ramen shop should still be open by the time we get there.”


	5. Sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co-written by Lauren

Frost edged the door open quietly, mildly wincing as she did, as she tiptoed into a clan house that was suspiciously devoid of life. For the first time in weeks, she entered into a house that was absent of the sounds of bickering, fighting, boasting or bragging. ‘Finally,’ she thought. ‘Some peace and fucking quiet’.

She trudged down the short main hall in silence, limping slightly from an injury that her most recent resurrection hadn’t quite healed.

“Frost, your ankle.” Persephone chirped.

“Yes, thank you Persey. I’m aware. Painfully aware.”

Frost pushed open the door to the main office, intending to make a beeline for the ratty yet comfortable armchair in the corner. However, the sight of Ronnie dozing in her pre-war office chair with her feet propped up on the desk, stopped her in her tracks. Several biting comments entered her mind but the pain in her ankle made her comfort a higher priority. She’d let Erina chastise Ronnie when they eventually returned.

Not in the mood to tiptoe around her, Frost sighed resignedly and plopped herself down in an armchair across from the mountainous Titan woman, the noise of which seemed to make Ronnie stir slightly.

“Mm...wha….” she yawned, smacking her lips lightly as she came alive, stretching and cracking her neck from side to side.

“Mornin’, sleepyhead” Frost muttered wryly, reclining by pushing her good ankle onto the footrest and hoping against all hope that the thing didn’t collapse underneath her at any second.

“Hey.” Ronnie stood and rubbed the small of her back through her robe. “Where you been? And why’s your ankle all puffy?”

Frost shrugged dejectedly. “Persephone has some ah…quirks. And to answer your first question, I’ve been trying to make some headway on a bounty but the fucker keeps eluding me. Where is everyone?”

Ronnie cracked her neck and rummaged around for a few moments until she picked up a flagon, drained it dry then proceeded to rummage through the fridge. “Out on some patrols, I imagine” she answered over her shoulder.

“Good God, woman. Do some dishes every now and again would you.” Frost’s eyes flared with her response. Ronnie appeared to ignore her. She further observed the titan clambering around in the ruin of a kitchen. The dissonance between her conduct and satin lace robe was not lost on the hunter. She continued to watch while twirling her combat knife, only stopping to ask a question. “Where’s Th13teen? He’s not normally out this late.”

“I think he’s gone hunting up some Golden Age bow tech with Grimm,” Ronnie poured herself a tall glass, ignoring the smaller woman’s admonitions. “What’d you need him for?”

“Of course he is,” Frost muttered, resumed playing knife from her holsters. She yanked one of her gloves off and idly began picking at her fingernails with the knife. “I’ve been trying to pull a bounty on an Elixni wannabe-Kell out in Trostland. He’s rather inconveniently decided to hole up in one of the old Pre-Fall buildings and he’s got an unending supply of guards.” She made a face and looked up at Ronnie “Little bastard’s been driving me nuts for about a week. As fast as I make kills, he seems to recruit more guys.”

Ronnie perked an eyebrow as she sat back at her desk and took a swig of her beer. “Mmh. And you think ol’ Joey Three-Bows is gonna help you clear out the bug den, huh?”

Frost snickered in spite of herself at the nickname. Th13teen did have a bit of an obsession with his favorite weapon type, opting to carry one in each weapon slot regardless of the occasion. “I like working with other hunters. We understand each other.”

Ronnie raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. What do you understand”

“That certain things require…finesse and subtlety. ”

The Titan cracked a grin. “Nah, nah Frostie. I think what you’re failing to understand something about your bounty. What you need is a Titan.”

Frost let out a sigh through clenched teeth. “Mmm-hmm. Sure. And why is that?”

“Well if this guy is just throwing dudes at you, what you need is to make kills in volume, not worry about being all stealthy like.”

Frost held up a hand and opened her mouth to retort however stopped before the words of protest exited her mouth. She considered that having tried and failed so many times, that perhaps a different approach could be worth her time. Sure, Ronnie usually came up with this strategy about as often as a piece of furniture broke in the clan house but she was willing to consider that maybe in this instance, Ronnie had a point. Although she did consider another point.

Broken clocks were also right, twice a day.

She narrowed her eyes and smirked a little, while pointing twirling the dagger, slightly baring her teeth. “Do you know how many people I’ve killed this week alone?”

Ronnie appeared unperturbed. Her expression, however, became more curious and child-like. “No. how many? At least forty? Please tell me it’s at least forty.”

Frost rolled her eyes and let out an “ugh” sound. “Look, you’re welcome on this little crusade of mine, but I’m telling you, that I know my shit. And unless I get a skilled Hunter out there, there’s no way we’re cracking that outer wall. There’s got to be at least three waves of Dregs, not to mention sniper Vandals in the windows.”

“You keep selling me harder on this,” Ronnie laughed. She reached across the desk and grabbed her helmet by one of its horns and dragged it over to her. “Come on. Show me where this place is. The worst thing we can do is take a crack at it and see what gives, yeah?”

Frost exhaled dramatically. “Give me like five minutes, then we’ll go? I’m tired.” She slumped in her seat for emphasis.

The Titan smiled and put the helmet back down. “Sure thing,” she said, not quite as loudly as she usually spoke. “Pour you a beer? I promise there’s a clean glass around here...somewhere.”

Frost managed a smile.

***

No sooner had the erstwhile Kell’s lifeless body hit the floor than Frost dropped to her knees in exhaustion, letting out a sigh of relief. Ankle slightly worse for wear. She wondered if throwing herself off a cliff and letting Persephone resurrect her would fix it.

She braced herself against a rusted bit of exposed scaffolding and caught her breath in long, loud gulps as she used her helmet’s enhanced vision to verify that the big Elixni warrior was dead. His body riddled with her arrows and knives and, she had to admit, a generous helping of bullets served hot and fresh from the barrel of Ronnie’s auto rifle.

“WOOOO!” the same Titan called out, trundling up to the heap of alien crimelord in front of her and jabbing it with her toe. “He’s dead!”

Frost rounded the corner from her cover and quickly composed herself as best she could, but she couldn’t hide the shakiness in her voice from being winded moments prior. “Alright. Finally. God that took forever.” She walked up to find Ronnie sitting on the back of the carcass, looking up at her with the blank visage of her helmet’s faceplate. The big woman was covered in alien body fluids, blood, and grime, but she had the enthusiasm of a child winning at a sporting event. Where did she get this wellspring of energy from, Frost wondered?

“See?” Ronnie said, jabbing a thumb towards herself “Titans have got your back, every time.”

Frost waved a hand at her languidly as she spun up to her Ghost, Persephone, to make a text report quickly to inform the pertinent parties of their conquest. Her eyes darted over letters, selecting them with a gaze while she spoke. “Yes, yes, I’m very impressed, couldn’t have done it without you, yadda yadda.” Message sent. Unable to keep herself upright for much longer, she picked a bare spot on the floor and sat cross-legged in front of the Titan.

“Hey, win or lose, that was still fun though.” Ronnie stood and began looking around the room for weaponry, loose engrams and whatever she could find.

Just as she was doing this, a message flashed in Frost’s visor and she checked it. “Oh hey, bounty payment’s in. I’ll wire you half of this, it only seems fai-”

“Keep it.”

Frost, expecting to hear a resounding yes, looked away from her message. “What? Ronnie, not to be rude or anything but you’re kind of broke.”

“I’ve got other jobs I can pull.”

“This is a pretty big payday.”

“And you earned it.” The big woman was rolling over Dreg carcasses casually, skimming bits of Glimmer from each one. “I was just along for the ride.”

Frost tilted her head and pushed herself up to her feet, walking over to Ronnie. “I’m offering this to you. You worked hard for it. Like I said, I couldn’t have done it without you.” Frost couldn’t see past the facemask. She had no idea what Ronnie’s face looked like right now if she was joking or being serious, but the blank faceplate turned to her.

“I just wanted to come out here with you.”

Frost was ready to reply with something acerbic but it stopped in her throat. Ronnie’s voice was quiet, subdued. A tone she had never heard in the Titan’s voice before.

“I just…” Ronnie turned her head away and seemed to be looking out a window. Outside the sun played setting oranges over the landscape. The warmth gave way to cooling and stillness washed over them both. “I never really get to come out and do fieldwork with you. It’s...it’s nice.”

Frost recovered from her initial surprise, but, not wanting to abruptly shift the tone of the conversation, decided to lead it, see where it went. Quietly she asked, “coming out here and killing alien criminals is...nice?”

Ronnie chuckled softly under her breath. The helmet bowed and her usually bravado-fueled stance softened a bit. “It is nice….I mean...when I’m out here with you at least.”

Frost’s mind went blank for a few moments and her heart rate quickened slightly, though she was unsure what that meant. She ignored a mental tug from Persephone to check on her vitals, silencing the Ghost with a psychic shush.

“Oh.”

Ronnie turned back to face her, that damned blank faceplate not giving anything away. “I like being with you,” she said, with earnestness and meaning. She was direct and blunt, much like a hammer, but delivering a message of silk and perfume. Her voice wavered a little. “It makes me happy whenever we get to spend time togeth-”

She was cut off by Frost raising a gloved hand up to her face. Or where her face should be. Before even she knew what she was doing, Frost had placed her hand on the big woman’s faceplate and softly she rubbed the thumb over a smear of blood on the shining surface. A moment hung and the sun moved from warm oranges to a muted blue. Frost breathed out, not having thought this whole thing through in any great capacity, she pulled her hand away slowly and muttered: “You...uh...you had something there.”

Ronnie raised her own hand to her cheek. “Uh...uh-huh.”

Silence.

“Look” Frost cleared her throat. “I-uh…”

She made a face she was thankful Ronnie couldn’t see. Her mind was dizzy with thoughts. Most of them asking her how the hell they had gotten here. Eventually, she realised one thing. She was hungry. Certainly, she was hungry. Okay, she thought, good, let’s focus on that.

“Ronnie,” Frost said. She noticed the Titan had barely moved since she last spoke. “If...if you’re not going to take the payment then…can I at least treat you to dinner tonight?”

A breath. An exhale from behind the mask.

“Yeah.” Some of the brightness returned to the Titan’s voice. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot. You wanna get some Ramen?”

Frost smiled. She was already intending to go to her favorite Ramen place in the tower, and she knew Ronnie liked the place too. “Okay,” she responded. This she could handle. This was good. This was a start. “Also, is that a new helmet?”

Ronnie cocked her head to one side and reached up to touch her own horns on her massive headgear. “What, this? No, it’s the same one I’ve always worn.”

Frost exhaled quietly, having diverted the conversation. The horns had always actually been a nice touch, she thought. They were strong and proud, standing out and proclaiming powerfully who this woman was. They arced outward from her forehead, thunderous and ostentatious, gleaming in the now fading twilight.

They were beautiful.

“They look tacky as shit,” Frost chuckled, shouldering her scout rifle and turning on her heel to walk away, leading on to dinner and wherever this night and all others would take them


	6. Overheard

“WRESTLING!” 

Frost winced then made an unintelligible noise that indicated irritation. She glanced up from her datapad that currently displayed her book while taking a sip of herbal tea whilst looking around for the source of the disruption to her peace and quiet. She put the data pad down, one hand automatically going to the towel on her head to ensure it stayed in place after the sudden movement. 

She adjusted her open robe over her soft pyjamas and reflected how peaceful things had been in the clan house recently. A peace she did not see coming nor expect to last very long given the constant antics of her clanmates. However, she had intended to take advantage of this rare opportunity and spend every precious moment of this peace nestled in her favorite ratty chair in the clan house common room catching up on the postings to her favorite fiction boards. She had enjoyed the multiple attempts that her fellows guardians had made to recreate or replace the lion’s share of lost Pre-Fall fiction.

“Frost, your heart rate is spiking.” Persephone apparated into existence.

“Do you hear that, little Ghost?” Frost asked, not really expecting the Ghost to have heard it. “That’s the sound of trouble.”

“Should I bring your weapons?”

As the assorted hoots and hollers of two of her clanmates echoed down the hall and she realised her all-too-short peace was at an end, She sighed and took one last sip of her tea and giggled at Persephone’s last question.

“Not just yet. Give it five minutes. Take this please?” And handed over her datapad. 

The Ghost took it from her to be stored as data itself and vanished. Frost inhaled in preparation and set her teacup down at the exact instant the door flew open so fast that it fell off one of it’s hinges with a bang.

“WRESTLING!” Ronnie, the giant Titan exclaimed, her hand outstretched from just slamming the door wide. 

“WOOO, WRESTLING!” resounded Th13teen. The Hunter pushed past Ronnie and flexed his arms, strutting around the room.

Frost rubbed her temples. “Okay. Okay. Clearly you two lunatics have found something new to occupy your pea brains. What is it this time?” 

“It’s the BEST” Ronnie shouted. She gesticulated wildly “Shaxx is adding unarmed combat to Crucible and he wants us to organize into groups of two-”

“TAG TEAMS, BAYBEE” Th13teen interjected.

“-and fight each other in a round robin tournament!” Ronnie grinned from ear to ear.. 

Frost picked up her teacup as a protective measure, feigning the most unimpressed air she could. “And what do you get for winning, pray tell?” 

“BELTS!” came the response from Th13teen.

“Belts?” Frost asked.

“Belts,” Ronnie clarified. 

“Belts,” Frost confirmed. 

“BELTS!” Th13teen reiterated. “BIG, SHINY GOLD BELTS!” 

“Shiny...gold,” Frost peered up at the big Titan, decked out as she was in gold filigree armor “why am I not surprised? Ronnie, If your armor gets any shinier you might as well wear disco balls on your buttplates.” 

“No, no, for the duration of this tournament, I’m now going by the name ‘Ronnie-2-Shotty’” she grinned and glanced at Th13teen who nodded in approval, “because I got the shotguns right here” she flexed, indicating her not unimpressive, Frost conceded- biceps.

“And I’m going by ‘JOEY THREE-BOWS” Th13teen squealed excitedly, perching atop the back of another sofa lounger. 

“And together,” Ronnie bellowed “we are…”

Th13teen leapt off of the sofa back and Ronnie caught him, swinging him around once and landing him on his feet where they both took up flexing poses and shouted in unison: 

“THE NEW VOID ORDER!” 

Frost palmed her own face. “As fascinating as all of this is, I’ve had my fill of your...enthusiasm for the day. I’ll be outside.” She got up and strode past them, pink robe fluttering as she did.

“You’re gonna come and see us wrestle, right?” 

Frost waved dismissively “Break your necks on your own damn time, boss lady. I’m going out to the garden to get some more reading done.” She turned back as she was leaving and regarded Ronnie directly “and by the way, try not to let anybody else break your shiny butt, okay?” 

“Why’s that?” Ronnie smirked back with a touch of defiance.

“Cause that’s my job.” Frost deliberately lowering her voice and holding Ronnie’s gaze for as long as possible while she watched the overconfident Titan’s face turn from Awoken blue to embarassed red. Frost turned and left just as Ronnie was trying to come up with a good retort, a move that Frost knew hammered the point home: I’m in charge here, Ronnie, you just think you are. 

As she stepped out into the clan house courtyard and took in the morning sunlight, something once more came to interrupt her solitude. A stranger approached the garden path. A Warlock, dressed in fine black and gold robes, her shoulders and neck adorned with long black feathers at the hems of her outfit. She was shorter than Frost, with dark human skin and a head of bright orange hair framing a severe face, made up with black eyeliner and gold lipstick. This woman seemed to glide up the path though Frost was sure she was walking, and she would have almost gone through her had she not halted abruptly. 

The woman flashed a smile that didn’t seem to reach her eyes, one that clearly was not lacking in practice.

“Good day, madam,” she nearly purred with a voice that was like black licorice. Tart and husky, but dripping with enough sweetness to cause cavities. “Can you tell me if this is the Pax Bisonica house?” 

“Well yes but why?” Frost cocked her hand on her hip. She wasn’t too sure why this person was here, but the atmosphere of ostentatiousness was already made cloying with Ronnie’s grandstanding, the last thing she needed was this peacock padding around the place. 

“Is Veronica here, darling?” the Warlock’s mouth curled into a smile and Frost envisioned her as almost snakelike. 

“Veronica? There’s….nobody in the clan by th-” 

“Oh yes, of course,” she deflected “Ronnie, she goes by Ronnie these days, I’m sorry.” 

“Oh” Frost raised both eyebrows, genuinely disarmed. Veronica? Really? She filed that away for later use. “Y-yeah, Ronnie’s inside.” She stabbed a thumb backwards over her shoulder and moved aside for the visitor. 

“Thank you darling,” the shorter woman bowed her head and glided past Frost without another word, making for the door. 

Frost narrowed her eyes and waited till the woman was through the doorway. She didn’t trust this one. Not at all. Not that Frost trusted many people, she still hadn’t gotten used to living with the members of her own clan, such as it was. That said, though, if this woman meant them harm, she was going to at least stay on top of things. 

They were family, after all. 

“Persephone,” Frost summoned.

“Frost,” her Ghost offered, dryly as she appeared.

“Suit me up. We’re going stealth.” 

***

Frost slipped in through the door and immediately sprang into the rafters, padding between them like a cat. Her void light flickered around her and began bending the low ambient light around her armor, rendering her functionally invisible. If anybody looked hard enough they might be able to see her, but nobody would really be looking up at the rafters in their own clan house. She swiftly made her way to the commons room via the roof supports. 

As she entered the room, she saw the new arrival speaking with Ronnie, who stood before her, arms crossed, but smiling? They were talking, low and quiet, which was unusual for Ronnie. Frost also noted that Th13teen was absent?

Frost’s Hunter inquisitiveness kicked into overdrive and she listened intently, using her headset’s sound amplifiers to zero in on the words being said.

“...not since Io, no.” Ronnie said, with a slight chuckle.

“I know, it *has* been a while, darling, I’m sooooo sorry.” The new woman drawled out her words theatrically as if rehearsed.

“So what brings you back to our neck of the woods?” Ronnie leaned back on her desk. 

“Why….you do, Veronica, my dear.” The Warlock leaned in as Ronnie leaned forward. Frost’s breath hitched in her throat and she reached for her knives, anticipating an attack, however, what happened next surprised even the seasoned guardian.

The smaller woman stood on tiptoe and leaned in further. Her gold-painted lips met Ronnie’s and the larger woman brought her arms forward and around the Warlock’s waist. They entwined. It was long, slow and silent, and if there had been any sound still in the room, it would have been brought to a hush.

Frost muttered a quiet “fuck, fuck, fuck” as her fumbling fingers found no purchase on the knife handle and it slipped out of it’s sheath, causing her to grab it blade first before it could fall to the ground and give her away. She exhaled, realising that her gloved fingers were in no danger and reclined to sit in the rafters.   
Well, she thought, watching the two women kiss. This is...new. It was no secret that Ronnie was...involved with a great many people. She often implied as such. But this was the first time Frost had seen evidence with her own eyes. She frowned, though she wasn’t sure why. 

The two women broke apart and Ronnie chuckled. She reached up an armored gauntlet to cup the smaller woman’s face playfully “Oh Deja, you haven’t changed a bit.” 

Deja cupped her hands around Ronnie’s larger one and smiled sweetly at her “I’m still just ‘little old me, darling. And I was hoping you’d like to catch up on old times some more.” 

“Oh?” Ronnie said, perking an eyebrow. 

Deja slipped back from her and gestured wide with her arms “Some friends of mine have abandoned a little outpost on Saturn, darling. It’s a cozy little apartment at the top of one of the less destroyed buildings in the city. It’s as furnished as it gets and all the amenities work.” She smiled her little snake smile again. “They’ve finished their little expedition to collect Vex samples there and they offered me the place.” 

Ronnie looked down and chuckled. As her eyes rose to met Deja’s she asked “and what are we going to do in a remote apartment out in the middle of Saturn, Deja?” 

Deja bit her bottom lip and cocked her eyebrow “why, darling, we would make our own entertainment.” 

Frost mimed a gag. Persephone giggled in her head. 

Ronnie laughed, loudly at first, then softer, looking around. “I...when were you planning to go?” she said, standing and walking over to Deja, resting her hands on the Warlock’s hips. Frost found herself chewing on the inside of her helmet restlessly, watching this all play out. 

Deja swayed her hips gently under the Titan’s touch “Right now, darling. We’d have the whole weekend to ourselves.” 

Ronnie’s eyebrows arched in the middle, surprised and a little sad. She smiled weakly for Deja. “Ah...Deja, I can’t. I have plans.” 

Deja play-frowned “Unless it’s Vanguard business, sweetheart, I’m sure it can wait.” 

Frost smirked to herself. Of course, she thought, Ronnie wants to go do that wrestling thing with Th13teen. She’s not going to go romp with some....two bit spell-slinger that just walked in here with her gaudy makeup and her- wait. 

Frost sat back against the support beam. Why did she care? Whatever Ronnie did in her spare time was her own business. It’s not like she had a horse in this race at all. In fact, getting Ronnie out of the place for the weekend would benefit her more. She could have the whole place to herself and enjoy a good long marathon reading session. She looked down, hoping now that the big woman might reconsider the weekend romp. 

Ronnie sighed and pulled her hands back from Deja. “It’s….I had plans.” 

The wrestling, Frost nodded to herself. Knew it. 

“See,” Ronnie continued, “Frost’s been wanting some peace and quiet for a while, I was going to go find some books for her down at the Ishtar collective and bring them for her. I was gonna send everybody else out on patrol and just give her some time to...enjoy herself.” 

Frost nearly fell out of the rafters. 

Deja crossed her arms “And? You could just give her the books and then come with me, Darling, I don’t see why-” 

Ronnie scratched the bridge of her nose, trying to feign nonchalance “I was gonna…maybe hang around. See if there was anything I wanted to read too?” 

Frost cocked her head. Ronnie could read? God that would be a funny thing to say right now, but she held her tongue and listened. 

Deja perked an eyebrow at this as well. “You? Since when were you ever the bookish type, you’ve never, since we’ve known each other picked up-” a slow dawning came over her face. “Wait. Wait a moment. Who is Frost? Is she the one I passed on the way here? Awoken? Medium height, towel on her head? PJs?” 

Ronnie nodded slowly “uh, yeah, if you just passed her, yeah, that’s her.” 

Deja smirked. “Oh. Oh yes, I get it now. Is that your type now?” 

Ronnie coughed and stepped back towards her desk “I- I’m not sure I know what you mean.” 

“Veronica!” Deja insisted, she raised her voice for emphasis, “I thought you despised Hunters, and now you’re involved with one?” 

Frosts eyes snapped wide. INVOLVED? Hold on a moment here, lady-

“We’re…” Ronnie chuckled softly “we’re friends.” She looked up and smiled wide and warm. Frost suddenly forgot her own line of thought. She hadn’t ever seen this particular smile on Ronnie’s face. It was...wistful? Wry? 

Deja softened too. Her frustration gave way to a similar smile and she crossed to the desk and leaned on it beside Ronnie. They shared a quiet silence for a moment. Deja slowly reached out and stroked the back of Ronnie’s hand. “What’s she like, this Hunter of yours?” 

Ronnie chuckled softly. “She’s…unlike anyone I’ve ever met. She’s smart. Sharp too, like a knife. Always knows what to say. N’ she’s super capable. I just...I like being around her. She makes me forget myself and like…like she’s all that matters.” A slow creeping blush build up in her face as she spoke. “She’s like a literal goddess.” 

Deja leaned her head on Ronnie’s shoulder. “She sounds wonderful, Darling.” 

“She is,” Ronnie said. They turned to meet each other’s gaze and Ronnie cupped Deja’s face with a hand and drew her in for a short kiss. 

Frost leaned back against the support pillar and drew her knees up close to her chest. Her heart was thumping in her chest again and she felt flushed. 

“Come on” Ronnie said below her “least I can do is take you to lunch. We can catch up at least a little.” 

“We can” Deja said, “but if we’re not going to my little romp, honey, I might as well stick around a bit. Help out around the place some and all. After all, I do need to meet this woman who’s made such an impact on you…”

Their voices trailed off as they left the room. Frost decloaked and let out a breath. That….that had been a lot. 

“Hey.” 

Frost jumped. Sitting across from her on the support beam, a shape coalesced out of the darkness to reveal golden robotic facial features. Th13teen threw her a cavalier salute.   
“So,” he chuckled “‘literal goddess’ huh?” 

Goddammit.


	7. Dance

Io was one of the quietest places in the solar system that Frost could think of. There was barely a sound to be heard, maybe the soft ambient hum of the stars and the vast stretch of cosmic music above, but out here, gunfire was sparse and people, with their messy tangle of emotions and connections, even more so. 

Frost loved it. 

She trudged on across a ridge of ivory calcified chalk hillside and admired the shifting tones of the dark blue ever-evening sky. As she reached the apex of the ridge, she set her scout rifle down and exhaled slowly, she stood for a moment, breathing in the cold, crisp air. This, momentarily, felt like a welcome escape. 

“I know what you’re going to do.” Persephone’s voice came to her mind. She wasn’t insistent or nagging, she had broken into Frost’s thoughts gently, like the drawing back of a curtain. “I must advise against it.” 

Frost smiled and waved the Ghost into existence, raising her palm upward and letting its polygonal shape manifest in her hand. “Why’s that, Persey?” 

The Ghost flitted back and forth, like nervous prancing “Your ankle, I’m not sure it’s fully healed yet.” 

Frost inhaled with a quick sharp breath, looked down and gingerly began to put weight on the offending appendage. A small, throb radiated slowly up her right ankle she made a mild grunt followed by a wince. 

She conceded that any attempt to hide the lingering pain was futile, knowing that that the Ghost could not only read her vitals, but connect with her innermost thoughts and feelings as well. She looked up and read Persey’s singular lens-eye and the knowing droop of the surrounding polyhedrons as an “I told you so.” 

“Don’t give me that look,” Frost said “it’s way better than it was before and the swelling is pretty minimal now.” She bounced on the tips of her toes and kept up a smile. A smile that she knew, for several reasons was very forced, not the least of which was her now slightly throbbing ankle. “So come on, coach. Give me the all clear. This won’t take long.” 

Persephone sighed and twirled her laterals. “You’re going to be in a lot of pain when you’re done, we both know this.” 

Frost huffed. She knew this was true. But this had been a hell of a week and this was one of the few things she really could do, all by herself, far from the maddening crowd of her erstwhile family and entirely inside her own head in her own private space where she could process the confusing events of the previous few days. She folded the fingers of one of her hands over the other and exhaled. She looked up at Persephone and channeled all the honesty she could muster. “Please, Persey. I really need this.” 

The little Ghost regarded her mistress for a moment, looked her up and down and sighed, a completely superfluous affectation for a being that didn’t actually breathe. “Okay, fine,” she muttered. “But I’m not going to pay attention to your whining afterwards.” Persephone hovered low to the ground and settled in to watch. “What’ll it be this time?” 

Frost smiled and mouthed a silent “thank you” as she unbuckled her supply bag and let it slip to the ground with a soft thud. She dropped her hood back from her Hunter’s cape and shook out her hands vigorously. She’d been looking forward to this for a while. She deliberated for only a moment and held up a finger to Persephone “let me have ‘Music of the Spheres, volume 1.” 

Persphone whirred and clicked “Alright, however if the pain becomes too much, I will stop.” 

Frost nodded and extended her arms down to her sides and out, her legs straight, toes pointed outwards, she bent her legs slightly and readied herself. “Okay. Begin.” 

Quietly at first, but with increasing volume, Persephone began to pipe music through her speakers. Soft tones of simulated piano and the deep brass horns of an orchestra. Frost felt it move through her as it built in intensity. At the first build, it reached into her, finding her muscles and hooking into them and it took her away. Her feet lifted off the ground one after the other and she traced a graceful, lazy circle in the bone white dust of the hilltop. Her arms circled in front of her, the arc of her passage in time with the surging, swelling tones of the song. Her eyes shut and she ceased to be for a moment, for a time one with the passing notes, catching each with her body and letting it pass through her - be her - for a fleeting moment. As the song built to a crescendo, she traced wide arcs with her arms, embracing each notes as an old friend and twirling about it as in flirtation, as in infatuation, and in return, each next note engaged her and buoyed her more. This went on until there was, for a time, no Frost anymore. There was only the music moving through her that lived, and that performed for this quiet, dead world, the only vestige of art and life for miles around. 

Perfect. 

The song began to wind down and Frost re-emerged once back into consciousness and she gratefully came back to her whirling, flitting body with newfound breath. Her last few rotations spun down and she lowered herself to the ground, at first finishing her performance with a graceful flourish and then incongruously collapsing to the ground, huffing hard and gasping for big gulps of breath through her mask. 

Persephone lazily floated into her field of vision, obscuring the view of the stars above. She bobbed lazily. “You good, ma’am?” 

Frost held out her thumb pointed up as she sucked in air. 

Persephone nodded slightly (well, it was more of a rocking back and forth in place). “At least you did not aggravate things further” She settled on the ground next to Frost and listened to the Hunter’s breathing normalize, seemingly enjoying her own little peace for the moment. 

Frost’s eyes gazed up at the stars as she lay on the ground, and suddenly all of the worry of the last few days seemed so far away, all the confusion and the feelings she didn’t know how to deal with were gone, or at least didn’t need to be dealt with right this moment. Chief among these was the things she had overheard Ronnie say, and the way in which her clan leader had said them. They were...words of deep admiration, but there was also something else there. Something else she had not expected.

Those words had been spoken with a longing. A wistfulness and a sadness that felt like a deep confession of the heart. Above all else, they were something she had not wanted to admit to anyone, least of all herself.

They were fucking romantic. 

Frost didn’t quite know what to do with this information. She stared up at the stars before her confused frustration bubbled up and spilled out of her mouth.

“Hey, assholes. What do I do?” She yelled out at the sky. Persephone said nothing but her focals appeared inquisitive. 

She once again pleaded her case to the heavens. “Seriously? You’re just gonna leave me hanging? After all I do for you?”

The sweat now running down her brow inside of her helm as it traced silver lines across her blue skin and ran meteors across the deep space of her body. She was a universe unto herself, just as inscrutable and unknowing as the cold black of space. And for the moment, she was happy to remain that way. However, reality had a funny way of hitting her exactly when she preferred it not to.

Ronnie had been her friend for nearly a decade now. They at least knew each other as much as two people could over a decade. They’d been great together whenever she spot filled in Ronnie’s regular fireteam with Erina and Grimm, but she had always felt ancillary to that group, not that she minded. She was always made to feel at home in the clan, but she really stayed because Ronnie was there mostly. The big woman’s laugh was infectious and she had to admit that she stuck around mostly to pick at her and see her get flustered when she ribbed her and made fun of her and...and after all that, this woman’s face lit up when talking about Frost. 

The face that Frost couldn’t get out of her mind. 

She sighed loudly. “What am I supposed to do with any of this?” Curling her mouth into a frown. 

Persephone vibrated softly and pressed up against her mistress’ side, detecting her discomfort and surely being able to see the images passing through her mind. She chirped up softly “Frost?” 

“'What’s up little Ghost?”

“You dance really well.” 

“Aw, thank you, honey.” She reached out a hand without looking and tapped the Ghost on the upper casing gently. Pat pat. 

“I mean it,” Persephone continued, also now staring up at the sky. “But you know, you do seem to be missing one thing.”

“What’s that, dear?” 

The Ghost floated up lazily, and tactically out of reach as she very carefully said: 

“You really need a partner.”


	8. About Time

Frost shook her fingers out as she removed her gloves. Padding tenderly down the corridor of the clan house (she hadn’t actually inflamed her ankle any more by dancing her stress away on Io, but she wasn’t taking any chances with that). She breathed out evenly. She still hadn’t quite figured out what she was even going to say to Ronnie about this thing between them (if she even said anything at all) but at the end of the day, when she set foot in this house, she was home. 

Maybe that fact alone would help her make up her mind, she thought as she pushed the door open.

“RELINQUISH THY NUTRIENTS, SANDWICH.” 

Frost immediately regretted that entire thought progress. 

The main clan house room roared with cross conversation, the outburst had come from Zachariah (an exo whose number was purportedly so ridiculously high due to a reset boot loop error that Frost had no intention of ever committing it to memory) which was entirely strange considering that he was in no near vicinity of a sandwich, but was having half of a conversation with another Exo Titan, B-33 who spoke entirely in interpretive dance and a series of buzzing noises. Perhaps, Frost thought, conversation was a generous word. 

Yet another Exo Titan, Grimm-9, sat with his feet up on a table, regarding mostly nothing in particular, staring off into the distance. Unnerving and creepy at best, but Frost usually regarded that one as a reliable combat partner and gave him a wide berth otherwise. 

Her gaze eventually settled on Ronnie and Thirteen, at the opposite end of the room, engaged in a boisterous conversation she had come into the middle of.

“I don’t know,” Thirteen said, stroking his chin, “if it’s seductive you’re going for, have you tried tenderly biting your bottom lip instead?” 

Frost decided that the wisest course of conversation was to not ask. 

As she made her way towards them, she swallowed hard. She hadn’t really figured out what she was going to say yet, but she was going to play it cool and just....be. She was going to at least approach Ronnie and see what feelings came to her and how much it would move her to say.

She had barely gotten that thought process when Ronnie caught sight of her coming towards them and stood bolt upright from her seat. “F-Frost, when did you get back?” 

Frost couldn’t help but smile. The big woman never failed to bring that warm, fuzzy feeling to her core. At the very same time she thought fuck, that thought alone kind of damned her, didn’t it? She waved it away mentally and tried to put up her usual sassy front “Aw, why? You miss sending me on another suicide mission, Boss?” 

“N-no, I was just” Ronnie glanced at Thirteen and Frost could just barely make out a hint of a shrug from the Exo Hunter. Ronnie cleared her throat and turned back to Frost. She made a face of resolve and after a huff of breath sucked in she steeled her gaze. “Frost we have to talk.” 

“Wait, what are you doing?” Thirteen asked, his eyebrows shooting up.

“I’m going to tell her,” Ronnie barked. 

“Thaaaaaat’s probably a bad idea, questionmark?” Thirteen offered, leaning back in his seat. 

“Stuff it, I’m telling her, this has gone on too long” Ronnie snorted. 

“Tell me what?” Frost said. She cocked her hands on her hips. She tried her best to look annoyed, but her concern was growing by the second. 

Ronnie cleared her throat and regarded the smaller woman in front of her “Look, ah...Frost...there’s something I need to talk to you about and it’s….it’s not easy to-” 

“YAHTZEE” Zachariah shrieked, diverting everyone’s attention. B-33 nodded and made a circular motion with his hands and a loud flat monotone buzz sound in response, their conversation a mystery to everyone but the two involved, and even then that was questionable. 

Frost perked an eyebrow at this and slowly turned her attention back to Ronnie “I’m sorry, you were saying?” 

Ronnie rolled her eyes at the two Exos and recentered herself. “Look, I’m trying to say, you and I have known each other a long time, right?” 

Frost didn’t want to assume she knew where this was going so she tilted her head to one side “about ten years now, mostly my whole Guardian career, yeah?”   
Ronnie nodded “yeah, and um...in that time we’ve uh…”

Just then, the door swung open and in strode a duo of Warlocks. 

“DARLINGS, we’re home!” Deja announced loudly. Frost mused that it seemed to be the woman’s only setting.

“With how badly that went, I’m surprised you didn’t want to just sneak in the back way” Erina muttered. 

“The point is, we won, we got the bounty and we’re home, darling. Why must you be such a wet blanket about these things?” 

Erina walked defeatedly over to Ronnie at the table, saying over her shoulder “I’d rather be a live blanket with a fulfilled bounty ‘dahling.’” She approached the big Titan and gave a halfhearted mock of a salute. “Salutations, Boss, we bring a full field report for you.” 

“Um...later?” Ronnie muttered through gritted teeth, gesturing with her eyes towards Frost. 

“Are ...you okay?” Erina asked, looking concerned. 

“I’m kind of in the middle of something,” the Titan said, bringing her hands to temples, massaging what Frost assumed was an oncoming headache. Ronnie was able to handle the circus of Guardians she kept in check at the best of times, but she honestly did seem unable to get to the point she was trying to get at and it did seem to be frustrating her. Frost frowned almost imperceptibly. Ronnie seemed genuinely upset and it was upsetting her in turn. 

“Yes, can’t you see you’re interrupting a very important conversation here?” Deja said, gliding up to the group, and slipping just behind Ronnie and to her other side. Frost couldn’t see Deja’s right arm and wasn’t sure if it was snaking its way around the big woman’s waist or resting on her backside and Frost wasn’t sure if either was worse but she was doing her best to hide her own rising annoyance which was spiking rapidly.

“I’m sorry, why is she here still?” Frost spat, unable to contain herself any longer. 

Deja feigned a look of hurt. “Why, I’m allowed to be here, darling,” her eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a vicious smile “I joined the clan, didn’t you hear?” 

Ronnie blanched and her head whipped over to Thirteen. He shot her double thumbs up and mouthed “this is going great.”

Ronnie rolled her eyes “look, can I just have a moment here, I was trying to-” 

“OF COURSE, MAGNANIMOUS,” Zachariah shrieked, apropos of nothing.

A series of buzzing noises emitted from B-33.

“Look we can come back later if you don’t need us-” Erina apologized. 

Deja was on the verge of adding to the cacophony when there was a sudden flicking noise from the middle of the room that instantly silenced everyone and drew attention to it.

Grimm had lit a match and was slowly lighting a cigar. He grimaced at the group, and with a low growl, uttered a single word: 

“QUIET.” 

As if Gods themselves had commanded it, silence blanketed the room.

Ronnie took the moment to disengage herself from the shorter Warlock’s grasp and back away from her politely “Okay, look, I know I have to get your report, but honestly, it can wait, I need to do this while I have the nerve to.”

Frost watched the big woman intently, this was unlike her...the only other time she had seen Ronnie this pensive, thoughtful and timid was…

That time she talked about wanting to spend more time together. 

“Ronnie…” she started.

“Frost, I-” 

Deja was about to open her mouth to say something but as soon as this happened, the sound of a weapon transmatting in broke through the momentary silence. Erina hefted her Recluse submachine gun and leveled it right at Deja.

“SAY ONE MORE WORD TO INTERRUPT THEM, I DARE YOU,” the normally docile Warlock shouted at the top of her lungs “AND I’LL DISMANTLE YOU FOR PARTS.” 

Frost blinked, stunned at this.

Deja’s eyes widened as she looked from the barrel of the gun to its wielder. “But I’m not an exo-” she began.

“I KNOW WHAT I SAID” Erina continued. 

Frost took a few steps backwards, feeling the intensity of the situation becoming overwhelming. Her instincts were screaming at her to run and hide in her bedroom, but whatever Ronnie had wanted to say seemed deeply important and though Frost could only hope at what it meant, she didn’t think it was possible. She knew how the big Titan felt about her, but it wasn’t something either of them could ever really act on...they’d been friends for so long…could they really risk losing all of that over-

“Alright” Erina finished, cutting off Frost’s train of thought. “Now we’re all going to just BE QUIET while the boss here asks Frost out on a date or whatever it is she’s been trying to say this entire time.” 

Both Frost and Ronnie wheeled on the warlock.

“Wait, hold up-”

“Whoa, what?” 

Erina turned to face the two, startled and stowing her SMG. “Beg pardon? I thought it was obvious. I mean...why aren’t you two dating yet?” 

Frost continued her step back and her eyes darted around to everyone in the room, they were all staring at her. 

Oh. 

Oh no. They all knew. They knew about this hidden, longing, unspoken thing between them. They all knew more than she knew. They all seemed so much more sure of this thing than she had been. This was too much. 

Quickly she snapped around and headed for the door, not quite running, but walking very fast and pulling her hood over her head to hide her face, she stomped through the door and slammed it shut behind her. 

Deja scowled and thumped the back of her fist against Erina’s shoulder “Good work, loudmouth, now look here at what you’ve caused.” 

Erina huffed “Look, I thought it was obvious.” 

Deja made an expression of frustration by way of reply and then turned to Ronnie, who had been standing there, dumbfounded for a while, staring after Frost. 

“Well?” she said.

“Uh...what?” the big Titan fumbled. 

Deja’s face softened and she placed a hand on Ronnie’s shoulder. “Go. Go tell her.” 

Ronnie took a moment to process that and then smiled back, placing her own hand over Deja’s. “Thank you,” she whispered. Deja only bowed her head in reverent acknowledgement as the big woman started her momentum towards the door, building into a run as she left the room.   
Erina watched all this and shook her head at Deja. “I’ll never understand you.” 

“No, darling,” Deja smiled, watching Ronnie leave “I don’t think you ever will.” 

*** 

Frost stumbled to a stop in the garden of the clan house. The old stone pillars jutting up from the ground, all wound about with vinery and age framed her against the evening sky and she slumped against one, catching her breath in what may have sounded more like sobs than the gulping of air. She shuddered hard and her fingers clenched at cold stone as she steadied herself. 

Goddammit. 

She struck her fist against the stone and hollered in between sucking in deep breaths. What was she supposed to do now? What if this was all wrong? What if she didn’t feel the same way? She knew that Ronnie liked her, but what if she had misread everything? She had to make sure this wouldn’t make things awkward between them.

“Mmh...augh….Per...Persey…” she mumbled, summoning her Ghost. 

A slow fade of luminous white framework and there was her companion, floating there languidly, already aware, due to psychic connection, of what was happening. She managed a look of concern. “Hey.” That soft, feminine voice reached out to her. “What can I do?” 

Frost slowly leaned away from the pillar, steadying herself and regaining her composure. She shook her head and tried to speak, through shaking tones. “Help me. What do I do? What do I tell her?” 

The little ghost drew herself small, timid, trying to placate her mistress by appearing docile and calm. “You tell her what you feel, Frost. And if she cares about you, even a little, she will understand if it’s not what she feels too.” 

Brushing her own hand against her face, drying tears that didn’t quite come, Frost turned to watch the sky, the clouds unbothered by her plight. She cursed them and the stars internally. “I don’t want to ruin this. She’s...at the very least she’s the best friend I’ve had since I resurrected.”

Persephone glided her way up to her mistress’ face and leveled with her eyes. “And that’s why she’ll understand.” 

Frost reached out and patted the little ghost and choked out a small thank you just as she became aware of the thudding footsteps drawing up behind her. 

Gleaming armor and aplomb greeted her as Ronnie skidded to a halt about ten feet from her. “Frost!” she called, breathlessly.

Frost looked down at her Ghost and Persephone twinkled gently in reply. She cradled her fingers around it as she looked up “Look, I-” 

“No,” Ronnie shouted, still kind of out of breath “let me say what I need to say.” 

Frost stiffened. She didn’t like being cut off, but okay, this was intriguing, she thought. She nodded an approval to proceed.

Ronnie sucked in a breath, and all of a sudden, in a torrent, words tumbled out of her. “We’ve been friends for a long time, okay?” She paced. “And I think….I think I’ve got...feelings...for you. I- I’m not sure how real any of this is. It might just be that because out of everyone in our clan, I feel like I can…” she looked down at the ground and shifted her feet in the gravel “I feel like when I want to be alone, what I really want is to be with you. Like you’re this part of me that I carry around all the time, and whenever we’re apart all I can think about it being near you.” She looked up at Frost. “And- and I understand if you don’t feel the same way. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe you don’t *want* me to feel this way about you...but if you don’t, please can we stay friends?” There was now more fear in her eyes than Frost had ever seen there. “I don’t want to lose you because I thought something dumb.” She stopped, the flood of words abated, her hands fell at her sides and she waited breathlessly for a response. 

Frost stood and listened, her face unchanging. She actually had to fight a little to keep the corners of her mouth from curling up into a smile, but she did. 

This was really happening. The feeling was mutual. She had expected maybe a consideration, but to know that not only did Ronnie feel this way about her, but also felt the same fear of losing what they already had? 

In all of the galaxy, in all of the universe, in the billions of stars, if each one were a potential outcome, a chance, happenstance, a possibility as to how this situation would resolve, Frost would not have bet on any of them being this one. 

She pursed her lips and brought her Ghost up to her face. She exhaled gently as she gave her little light a psychic command and sent her gliding over to Ronnie. Frost then closed her eyes and waited. 

Persephone came to a stop level with the big Titan’s chestplate and tilted to look up at her. Ronnie held her breath and waited, gingerly biting her bottom lip. She glanced back once to her mistress and then back up at Ronnie. She spoke in practiced, even words. “Ronnie...Frost *loves* you. She doesn’t just like you. She doesn’t just put up with you. She thinks about you all the time and about how much these last ten years of being near you have meant. Her heart has been aching this entire time to tell you that she *loves* you, wholly and without regret.” 

Ronnie broke out into a smile halfway through, and cupped the little Ghost in her hand. As Persephone finished speaking, she brought the Ghost up to her face and pressed her forehead against the warm, bright polygonal shape and whispered a “thank you” that was almost a prayer. Persephone stole a glance back at her mistress, then looked back at Ronnie one more time before vanishing. 

Frost kept her eyes closed, waiting, and as she did, she heard the footsteps crunch on the gravel towards her. When she finally opened her eyes, she was looking into Ronnie’s face, with a gentle smile playing over it. The big woman’s arms slowly came towards her, and she let them, her own reaching up to touch the ornate cuirass before her, and she looked up into Ronnie’s eyes, enrapt as the armored arms of the Titan wrapped around her.   
“I love you too” the words came. 

Longingly they drifted together until their lips met, and by the mid-evening sun, they kissed for the first time. 

“Pay up.” 

Erina huffed and put her hands on her hips. “It doesn’t count.” 

Thirteen pulled back from the window where they had been watching the two lovebirds. “Why not?” he barked.

“They’ve known this whole time. How sure are you this isn’t just a show and they’ve been secretly doing this for years now?” 

Thirteen cackled as he turned from the window “Boss may be brave when it comes to facing down hordes of Fallen and Cabal, but I know one thing about her. Telling someone how she really feels? Scariest thing in the world. I can totally believe that it took them this long.” 

Erina considered that a moment. She bit a finger-cap and thought out loud “do you think they’re going to be mad at me for saying something?” 

Grimm walked up as Thirteen walked past him, peered out the window near Erina. 

“NO.” he intoned. 

Erina looked back at him, whenever Grimm spoke was sort of an occasion to be marked. 

The big Exo pointed out the window, and still pointing, he turned to face Erina, and one more issued a low utterance.

“HAPPY.” 

Erina relaxed a little. 

“See? Everything worked out. Mazel tov.” Thirteen quipped, throwing his hands up in the air. 

“So what do we do now?” Erina asked, her politeness returning. 

“Frankly,” Thirteen said “I think we should all skip out and get some dinner.” 

“Is that really what you’re thinking of at a time like this?” Erina shot back.

“Yes,” Thirteen affirmed, straightening his cloak “because those two are gonna need to have a long talk right now and I’m thinking we should leave them the whole clan house to themselves.” He turned to Zachariah and B-33. “Hey, tweedle-dee and tweedle-dim, chow’s on me, let’s go!” 

“FORCEPS” Zachariah shouted, getting up from the couch, as B-33 pointed at him and nodded in agreement, also making motions to leave. 

Deja sidled up to Thirteen and hooked her arm in his “well, if you’re paying, darling, of course I’ll come, I appreciate the invitation.” 

“Help” Thirteen shot back to Erina. 

Erina chuckled despite herself. “One love story at a time, you two.” She pushed Thirteen towards the back entrance and they all filed out of the room. 

Grimm drew the drapes across the window as they left.


End file.
